Thomas Madison Flemming

1943 - 2022

FLEMMING

THOMAS MADISON FLEMMING

Thomas Madison Flemming, 78, passed away peacefully on August 2, 2022, after a long illness, at his home in Fairfax. The cause was Parkinsonism with dementia. Tom was born in Washington, along with twin brother Art, on October 19, 1943, the youngest of five children, to Arthur S and Bernice M Flemming. He spent his formative years in Washington and Ohio, graduating from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School in 1961.The family then moved west to Oregon, and Tom followed. He graduated in 1965 from the University of Oregon with, as he liked to say, a junior year abroad in Hawaii and a degree in political science.



Tom grew up in a politically active family. He had a liberal conscience, but he wore it lightly. Beginning with a year in west Baltimore as one of the newly formed Volunteers in Service to America, he showed an early preference for practice over preaching. His career in the federal government, in Washington and in regional offices across the country, spanned 32 years among the service agencies, including the Office of Economic Opportunity, Health, Education, and Welfare, Rehabilitation Services, ACTION, and Americorps. Tom's talents as a writer and planner were quickly recognized. He was the trusted anonymous author of a host of policy briefings, often as a go-to advisor on inter-agency collaboration. Over the years, he received more than a dozen awards for his efforts.



In private life, Tom matched a sober side with a delicious wit. Rarely arguing politics, he would deliver a comment, absurd on its face, with such a straight face that even those who knew him were left unsure whether he was serious or joking. When he told friends that he went to church on Mondays, he did not always add that church was a local pub.



Almost 20 years ago, a mutual friend introduced Tom to Karen Snitzer, who was to be his partner for the remainder of his life. Great times were followed by years in which the man who had served the programmatic needs of so many others found himself in need of help. Karen gave it, in abundance.



Survivors include Karen, Art and Carolyn Flemming, their children Tom and Lauren, and an extended family too numerous to mention, for whom he served modestly as the communicator.



A service in Tom's memory will be held in the fall. Interment will be at Ivy Hill Cemetery in Alexandria.